Chapter 10: Tom Meet Alastor
So ffn is all messed up with notifications and shit. So, I don't know if you're getting my story. I know I'm not getting your reviews unless I go look for them, which I do, and I'm still not getting many reviews, so… I guess you're not getting my story. Either way, I'm still posting. So, um, review if you can. Uh, I know those of you that are getting my stories in the app review, so there is that.
Thank you for all the reviews.
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It was two days before Christmas when Moody and Tom decided to meet. Harry and Hermione just went along for the ride. They met at the same cafe that Tom and Harry met at. Mad-Eye had to wear a hat and an eye patch to hide his scars and his magical eye. It was quite the disguise. And it made him look really stupid. He looked like a demented pirate.
"You look like a demented pirate," said Harry as he set down the tea and cakes that he had ordered from the counter. He loved coming to this place. They had the best bakery.
"Shut up, you brat," said Mad-Eye as he fiddled with the eye patch. He really hated wearing them. But he had to every time he came into the muggle world. There was no other way to hide his magical eye. And it had to be an extra-large one too, because of the way his eye protruded from his face.
"No, you really do," said Hermione, hiding her giggle with her hands. It wasn't often that she got to laugh any more, but looking at Moody just made her want to giggle.
"When is your Dark Lord going to get here?" asked Moody, ignoring them. They were just children, and he wasn't going to let them get on his nerves.
"He should be here any minute now. He's not one to be late," said Harry with the twinkle in his eye. Not that he wanted to look like the headmaster, but he thought this was going to be quite the meeting.
Moody had already set up the wards around the table. Nobody would be able to hear anything they said. They weren't physical wards, but they were definitely word dampening wards.
"I'm here now," said Tom, coming up from behind them. "I'm surprised that Mr. Moody did not see me with that magical eye of his." He came around the table and stood in front of the old Auror. He looked at him quizzically as if he was seeing him for the first time. Which he was. He had never seen him before. His older self probably had, but he never had. They were of the age that they might have gone to school together. But he didn't remember ever seeing him in Hogwarts.
"I did see you, I just did not recognize you. You look nothing like you did in the last war," Alastor said, folding his arms in a grumpy manner. He had seen the young man coming towards them, but he had just seen a handsome young man, not any danger.
"Yes, I'm told I looked hideous in the last war," said young Tom, brushing away some imaginary lint from his shoulder. Then he looked over and saw Hermione. "What is she doing here?" he asked Harry, giving the other boy the evil eye.
"She's my right-hand man," said Harry, with a shit-eating grin. "Of course she's going to be here." He leaned back and put his arm around Hermione as if encompassing his best friend. Which, technically, she was.
"That's right," said Hermione, giving the Dark Lord a brilliant smile. "I'm here to take notes and give advice." Gesturing to the note taking paraphernalia that was on the table.
"Shut up, mudblood. Nobody wants to hear from you," Tom said with some venom in his voice. Even though he was advocating for equal rights, he did not want to have her at the table. There was just something about having her as a table that set his teeth on edge. Maybe it was sharing her with Harry, maybe it was the fact that she was smart. Who knows? He just didn't want to have her there.
"First of all, don't call her that. Second of all, if we're going to have a cordial meeting, then you're going to be polite," Harry said as politely as he could, though there was some steel in his tone.
"That's right," said Moody, fingering his wand.
"Fine," said Tom with resignation in his tone, sitting down at the table. "Let's get this over with." He waved his wand discreetly and set up his own set of wards. Not that he didn't trust the paranoia of Old Mad-Eye, he just wanted to make sure that he had his own up.
"I need to know where you think the Horcruxes are hidden," said Moody, pulling the list that Harriet gave him out of his pocket, showing him the ticked off two that he had found. "I've found two of them in the least likely places. One of them is at the Order's house and the other was at Hogwarts. One of them was Slytherin's Locket and the other one was Ravenclaws Diadem. Now, Hogwarts was on your list, but the Order's house was not."
"Wasn't Sirius's brother one of my followers? Perhaps I gave it to him for safekeeping," the young Dark Lord theorized. It made sense to him. Not that he trusted any of his Death Eaters, but his older self, might have.
"That doesn't sound like something your older self would do," said Moody, dismissing the idea out of hand.
"Actually, it does sound like something his older self would do," said Harry, tapping the table with his desserts spoon.
"And how would you know?" asked the old Auror incredulously, looking at the younger man as if he were crazy.
"Because the man is batshit crazy," Harry said, making circling motions around his forehead.
"Huh," said Moody.
"No. If you think about it, he would have offered it to his most loyal followers, but I don't think Sirius's brother was one of his loyal followers. But that is something to investigate. We should look into his most loyal followers and see if they have these Horcruxes," Hermione said, tapping her quill on the parchment as if thinking about it very deeply.
"That's actually a really good idea, mudblood," Tom said, though there was very little bite in his words.
"You're just gonna keep on calling her that, aren't you?" said Harry, there was a smile playing at his lips. As if he knew Tom didn't mean what he was saying.
"I am what I am," said Tom with the shrug of his shoulders.
"I don't mind," said Hermione with a sniff. "It just shows how petty he is."
"How dare you?" huffed Tom, this time getting angry.
"You're the one who's calling names. I'm the one who's sitting here being proper," Hermione said with a shrug, lifting an eyebrow at him.
"She's got a point," said Harry, outright laughing at the other man.
"So we're looking to your followers, and then we look into your childhood haunts. Is there any other place that you can think of that you might hide these things?" Asked Moody, changing the subject before it turned into childish taunts. That was the last thing he needed. It was bad enough when the Order meetings turned into that. He didn't need this to turn into it as well.
"Before I was turned into the Horcrux, I was looking into my father's origins. You might want to investigate that," the junior Dark Lord suggested, rubbing his chin as if in deep thought.
"Is that why you were looking into Little Hangleton?" Harry questioned. He had been thinking about that since they talked about the graveyard.
"Yes."
"So we should look there too. Is that where your mother's from, too?" asked Harry, running over scenarios in his head. It only made sense to him that both of the man's parents would be from the same town.
"Yes, I believe so. I'm not quite sure I hadn't gotten that far when I was turned into a horcrux," Tom said, waving it away as if it were not a big deal. Even though it was. He just didn't want to have to deal with the history of his family. It was something that meant something to him at the time, but now he had too much else to deal with that. He didn't want to have to deal with it now.
"We'll look into it," said Moody.
"Things have gotten muddled since I've been back, but I do believe that both my parents were from Little Hangleton. I know my father was, because his grave is there. My uncle is in jail for killing my father and my grandparents. I'm not sure of the whole story. If it were me, I would have framed him. But I don't know if I did or not. There's rumors of love potions and bewitching. I don't know the story. Ah, I do believe my mother's name was Merope Gaunt. But there's very little known about her. Other than her family was known as the Village Crazies," Tom explained, going over what little he knew of his family history from what he'd been able to find out since he'd been back. Which wasn't much, since his followers knew nothing about his history, and he had had very little time to research it.
"Like I said, we'll look into it for you," said Mad-Eye, taking notes. He wanted to make sure he got down all the important parts. They might be what he needed to find the Horcruxes.
"Yeah," said Harry, looking at his friend in earnest. "We'll check it out. No need to worry yourself over it. You've got other things to take care of, like making everything equal and keeping your Death Eaters from killing everybody. We've got this." He reached over and gave Tom's arm a squeeze.
Hermione was taking down a lot of notes. She was more interested in the man's family history than he seemed to be.
"Do you think that there would be a Horcrux in the orphanage you grew up in?" asked Moody, jotting down another note. It was on the list of places that he thought they might be, but now he wanted to make sure.
"No, I hated that place. I don't think I would have gone back there. However, there was a cave nearby that I used to go to that offered me comfort. You might want to check there," the miniature Dark Lord stated with a reminiscent tone. He seemed to get lost in the memory for a moment. Then he shook his head and came back to the present.
"I'll do that," said Moody, underlining something on his notepad.
"You let me know if you need any help," offered Harry. He wanted to be a part of this Horcrux hunt.
"You might need a parselmouth," said Tom, leaning forward as if sharing a secret. Everyone moved to hear what he had to say.
"Why would I need a parselmouth?" Mad-Eye asked, keeping the huddle.
"Because I am one," said Tom, he moved to sit back in his normal seated position. "I would have made my passwords in parseltongue," he added as if that were obvious.
"Yes, I guess that makes sense," said Moody, Once more going through his notebook and writing things down. He also underlined the word parseltongue.
"What's a parselmouth?" asked Harry, never having heard the word before. And he couldn't suss it out from the context.
"Somebody who can speak to snakes," said Tom as if that were the most normal thing in the world.
"I thought all magicals could do that," said Harry, looking to Hermione for confirmation. She just shook her head at him that no, they could not. He looked at her, confused.
"No, only a select few can do that," Tom said, making Harry look at him.
"Well, I can," said Harry, with a great deal of bewilderment in his tone, making everybody look at him as if he were crazy.
"Oh, well, you're a parselmouth," Tom said. Though, he looked very confused over that fact. "That doesn't make a bit of sense though, since you're not a descendant of Slytherin."
"Oh, well. I'm not sure how it happened, but I am one," Harry said, then he looked at Alastor. "If you need any help, Moody, you can call on me. That way you don't have to bother Tom," he said, looking at the older man at the table with some seriousness.
"Bully," said Moody, He did look happy over the fact that he could call Harry instead of Tom. The last person he wanted to be in cahoots with was the Dark Lord. Even if he was a mini Dark Lord.
"I take it this meeting is now done," said Tom, looking at the three other people at the table. Even though he did sneer at Hermione.
"I can't think of anything else to ask you," said Harry. He too, looked at the other three people as if to ask them if they had anything they needed to say.
"I can't think of anything either," said Hermione, glancing over her notes to see if she missed anything.
"Nobody asked you, mudblood," said Tom, this time there was a sneer in his voice.
"Really? Again?" said Harry, exasperated.
"I just had to get one more shot in," said Tom with the casual shrug of his shoulders to show that he really didn't mean it.
"You really are a very petty Dark lord, you know that?" Harry said, throwing his hands up in the air. He just didn't know what to do with this Dark Lord.
"What can I say? I am what I am."
"And again, I point out that I sat through this entire conversation without calling you a single name," said Hermione, pointedly putting her nose in the air.
"I say that puts Hermione in the win column," said Harry, giving a small golf clap to the bushy-haired witch.
"Whatever, I'm out of here," said Moody, picking up his papers and walking away. He was so done dealing with teenagers. He didn't even bother taking down his wards, he just walked away.
"He is quite the pleasant fellow, isn't he?" said Tom, smirking at the retreating man's back. He knew the man's wards would eventually fade. They weren't hurting anybody.
"Now, he is once you get to know him," said Harry, in a pleasant tone. He liked Moody. The man gave as good as he got. Even though the guy didn't trust him, or Tom, or Hermione, or anybody, not even Dumbledore, that was okay. He was still an okay bloke.
"Was there anything else you needed from me?" asked Riddle, finally getting to eat one of the pastries. He nibbled on the chocolate biscuit that he adored so much. He didn't care what the mudblood thought.
"Have you got all your Death Eaters in order?" Harry asked, grasping for a subject. He just wanted to keep Tom talking for a while so that they could finish their tea.
"My Death Eaters were never out of order. It's your followers that have always been the issue," said Tom, still nibbling on his biscuit. He also poured himself some of the not quite so hot tea. He discreetly waved his wand and heated it up just to his liking.
"What have you been telling him?" asked Hermione in that tone of voice that women used everywhere that men knew that they were in trouble.
"Just that they're not exactly fighters, that's all," said Harry quickly. "And I'll have you know that I've gotten them in order right quick," he quickly defended himself To the Junior Dark Lord.
"That's right, we've gotten some teachers and taught them quite a few things that would keep them from hurting themselves and others," said Hermione so primly that it was reminiscent of first year Hermione. She caught herself doing it and shook herself. She didn't like that persona anymore. It never did her any good.
"So you've finally got them in fighting order? That's great," said Tom, as excited as a stoic Dark Lord could be. "Will you trust them at your back now?" he asked.
"Well, I trust them not to get themselves killed, that's something," confessed Harry, shifting his eyes side to side. It wasn't that he didn't trust them at his back. He just didn't trust anybody at his back except Hermione and possibly Tom.
"Call me when you trust them at your back," said Tom with a sneer.
"You trust your Death Eaters at you're back?" retorted Harry. Knowing full well what the answer was.
"Well, no," said Tom without the slightest bit of remorse. "But I don't trust anybody at my back." Shrugging his shoulders.
"That's not a way to live," said Harry, shaking his head regretfully. "I trust Hermione at my back."
"Thank you, Harry," said Hermione, putting her hand upon his arm.
"You're welcome, Hermione," said Harry, putting his hand on her hand.
"You two are sick," said Tom. "How are things going with getting your house back?" he asked, desperate to change the subject.
"I should have it back in two days. It's going to be quite a Christmas present for me. Grimmauld Place is gonna be mine," Harry said, pumping his fists in the air.
"I didn't know you were planning on getting your house back. I didn't know it was your house in the first place," said Hermione a confused and hurt tone in her voice.
"Yeah, I should have it back for Christmas," Harry reiterated, tilting his head to the side, confused as to why she would feel hurt.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
"It was going to be a surprise."
"A surprise for me?" she asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.
"A surprise for everybody," he said with a shit-eating grin on his face. Like it was going to be the biggest prank in the world.
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your right-hand man," she inquired one more time, the hurt back in her voice.
"I honestly didn't think you needed to know. It had nothing to do with the war," he said, honestly confused again. He didn't understand why she was hurt by this.
"Oh, I like that," she said. This time, she sounded affronted. She then folded her arms and sat back in her chair.
"Seriously, Hermione, I don't need to tell you everything," Harry said with a huff. He didn't understand why she felt the need to micromanage his life.
"Fine," she said, waving her hand in the conceding sort of way. "But I do like to be in the loop with important things, and this is an important thing."
"No, it really isn't. This is just between me and my godfather," he stated as if it were final.
"Speaking of your godfather, what's going on between you and him?" she inquired, wanting to know what was going on with the weirdness that was happening with Sirius.
"Nothing really, we're just messing around. He's not really all together there. Azkaban really messed up his mind," Harry said evasively. He really didn't want to have to go into the whole they were spying on Dumbledore thing with Hermione. Even though it was kind of important, and it did have to do with the war, it was something between him and his godfather.
"So, you don't have a secret plot going on with him?" she asked, giving him the evil eye.
"Maybe just a small one? But it's really just to give him something to do and let him feel important," he said, giving her a shifty eye.
"Oh really? Do tell," she said in a tone of voice that said she didn't believe anything he was saying to her.
"Fine," he said, with a huff, throwing his hands in the air. "I've got a listening charm going on, on the headmaster's desk, and he's taking down notes from it."
Tom started laughing hysterically. He already knew all this, but he thought it was funny as hell that Harry was going through great lengths to hide from the mudblood. He would have told her to bloody well sod off ages ago. He wouldn't have played this namby-pamby footsie game. Then again, he's a Dark Lord and Harry is not.
"Oh, is that all?" said Hermione, as if it were nothing significant. "Have you learned anything important?" she asked, hoping for some juicy gossip.
"The headmaster's going to try and contain me after I killed the Dark Lord. Me and Tom here," Harry said, waving it off as if it were inconsequential.
"I'd like to see him try," said Tom with a great deal of menace, there was even a darkening of his eyes.
"You'd be surprised at what the headmaster can do," said Hermione, in a way of a warning, but without any type of threat.
"You'd be surprised at what I can do," said Tom, his eyes darkened even further.
"I wouldn't be surprised either of those things," said Harry, jovially. "But everybody's going to be shocked at what I can do. You haven't seen the half of it yet." And they really hadn't. He hadn't shown off half of what he could do. He'd only shown off a tiny bit.
"Oh, do tell," said Hermione in a saccharine, sweet tone.
"No, I think I'll keep that to myself, right-hand man or not. Ally or not. I have got to keep some things secret. I don't know everything Tom can do; He doesn't know everything I can do. We'll just keep it that way for now," Harry said with the note of finality. He even shook his head and folded his arms. He wasn't going to budge on this one.
"Completely understandable," said Tom, nodding his head in complete agreement. "As long as you use it against Senior, we'll have no issue. However, I do need to know that we are going to be able to fight together. So we need to spar." That one came completely out of the blue.
"That's actually a really good idea. Let's get your people, my people and Dumbledore's people together and have it all out," Harry said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them vigorously as if it was going to be a great thing.
"Where should we have this?" Hermione asked.
"Hogwarts?" Harry suggested.
"That is not exactly neutral ground," Tom pointed out, not wanting to be anywhere where Dumbledore was in control.
"Oh, where do you suggest? That's the only place I know that's big enough," Harry inquired, lifting an eyebrow and the other boy's general direction.
"Uh, let's go with my old manor in Little Hangleton. Not that I knew I had a manor there until two weeks ago, but it's there," Tom said, thinking even if they destroyed the place, it was no big loss. It had been standing empty for the last 50 years. Other than the groundskeeper.
"Again, not neutral ground," Harry said.
"I know. Let's find a muggle warehouse and ward it to the gills," was Hermione's suggestion.
"That's actually not a bad idea. We could put an expansion charm on it for the day. Ward it six ways to Sunday. It should work out fine. We can do it over and over again until we get it right and we know we can work together. Since you guys were so dead set on watching the graveyard, we can attack Tom Senior as soon as he revives himself using the Bone of the Father," Harry said, all in one breath. He was actually excited about that prospect because that would be neutral ground and they could do it out of the way of everybody and everything. Because those warehouses were pretty much abandoned by now.
"That sounds like a plan," said Tom, thinking along the same lines that Harry was. "You get together with Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix and set it up and let Crabbe know, and I'll be there." He had finished off three biscuits by now and his cup of tea.
"Will do," Harry said, looking over the decimated table of baked goods. Between him, Tom and Hermione, they had eaten the rest of all the cakes.
With that, Tom left. Hermione and Harry sat and finished off the tea. They talked of inconsequential things but had a good time finishing off the rest of the biscuits. It was nice, just the two of them talking about nothing important. Not worrying about the war for a minute. Just two friends out to tea.
Soon enough, all good things must come to an end, and they had to go back to Grimmauld Place. Oh well. At least it would be Harry's soon.